About Licenses in Unity Connection

License Management and Enterprise License Manager (ELM)

In Unity Connection 9.x, licenses are required to use the various features purchased by the customers. To use the licensed features on Unity Connection, the licenses for the corresponding features must be installed on the Enterprise License Manager (ELM) server and Unity Connection must communicate with the ELM server to obtain the license status. The ELM server provides centralized, simplified, and enterprise-wide management of user-based licensing. For more information on the ELM server and its configuration, refer to ELM user guide at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/elmuserguide/9_0_1/CUCM_BK_E596FD72_00_enterprise-license-manager-user-90.html.

Unity Connection remains in the “Demonstration (Demo)” mode until it connects with the ELM server for the first time. For more information on licensing states of Connection, refer to the License Status in Unity Connection.

After obtaining and installing the licenses, you are required to configure Unity Connection with the ELM server. For information on how to connect Unity Connection with the ELM server, refer to the "Adding a Product instance" section in the ELM user guide. After Unity Connection is configured with the ELM server, Unity Connection is no longer in “Demo” mode. To check the details of the connected ELM server, see the "Status" section on the License page of Cisco Unity Connection Administration. The value of the ELM server is displayed as “Not Connected” on the License page until Unity Connection is configured on the ELM server.

License Status in Unity Connection

When Unity Connection is connected with the ELM server and the required number of licenses for the features are installed on the ELM server, the license status becomes “Compliance”. For example, if the ELM server is configured for 50 users, the Unity Connection server can request for less than equal to 50 users to remain in “Compliance” mode.

If the required number of licenses are not installed on the ELM server, the license status becomes “Violation”. However, you can still use the licensed features on Unity Connection for 60 days, which is the grace period. During this grace period, you are required to obtain and install the required number of licenses or reduce the usage of the licensed features in order to avoid license violation. However, if you do not take the required action during the grace period, then license status becomes “Expire”.

Once the license status of Unity Connection software changes to “Expire”, the software will stop functioning. The Unity Connection server will not answer any calls to leave or retrieve voicemails. However, you can still add, modify or delete configuration data on the server. You are required to obtain and install the required number of licenses or reduce the usage of the licensed features to avoid license violation. After taking the required action, the license status changes from “Expire” to “Compliance” and you can use the licensed features on Unity Connection again.

Note After obtaining and installing licenses for changing the license status from “Expire” to the “Compliance”, you must restart Unity Connection.

Note When the license status of Unity Connection is “Expire”, the synchronization of users and call handler profiles from Unity Connection on the branch stops working. However, the voicemail and auto-attendant functionalities still work at branch. For more information on the licensing requirements of the branch, refer to the Cisco Unity Connection Survivable Remote Site Voicemail (SRSV) Guide for Cisco Unity Connection Release 9.x at guide http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/connection/9x/srsv/guide/9xcucsrsvx.html.

Note If the multiple Unity Connection severs are configured with the same ELM server and the license violation occurs for one of the Unity Connection, then the license status of all the Unity Connection servers becomes “Violation”. Similarly, if the license expiration occurs for one of the Unity Connection, then the license status status of all the Unity Connection servers becomes “Expire”.

Licenses and Unity Connection Clusters

In a Unity Connection (high availability) environment, only the publisher server needs to be configured and connected with the ELM to obtain the license status and for the license enforcement. When the publisher server stops functioning (for example, when it is shut down for maintenance), the subscriber server handles all the incoming calls for the cluster for 60 days grace period. However, if the publisher server does not resume its normal function within the 60 days grace period, Unity Connection will move to “Expire” state.

Licenses and Migrations from Cisco Unity

Unity Connection 9.x can use existing license information from Cisco Unity to enable Unity Connection features when migrating from Cisco Unity 4.x or later to Unity Connection 9.x.

Viewing Reports for Licenses in Unity Connection

You can view the reports for the licenses associated with the licensed features on the License page of the Cisco Unity Connection Administration. The license report includes the following information:

Status: Shows the license status, host name/IP address of the connected ELM server, last connectivity time of Unity Connection with the ELM server, and last compliance time of Unity Connection with the ELM server.

License Usage: Shows the usage of licensed features of the Unity Connection server. For features that are licensed for a number of seats, the report displays the number of used seats.

Viewing the License Status for Unity Connection

Do the following procedure to view the license status for the Unity Connection server.

Step 2 On the Licenses page, under Status, you can view the following types of License status:

Demonstration (Demo): If Unity Connection is in the “Demo” mode, the value of License status will be “Demo”.

Compliance: If the required number of licenses for the desired feature are installed on the ELM server, the Unity Connection is in the “Compliance” mode.

Violation: If required number of licenses for the desired feature are not installed on the ELM server, the License status becomes “Violation”. In addition, a warning message stating “License Violation has occurred. License will expire in 60 day(s). Please contact ELM administrator” appears.

Expire: If you do not obtain and install the required number of licenses for the desired features on the ELM server within the 60 days grace period, the license status becomes “Expire”. A warning message stating “License violation has occurred for x day(s) and crossed the grace period. System is now in Expiration mode” appears, where “x” is the number of days. In addition, a warning message stating “Cisco Unity Connection cannot answer calls. A license violation has occurred. To review licenses, go to the System Settings > Licenses page in Cisco Unity Connection Administration” appears on the Home page of the Cisco Unity Connection Administration.

Viewing the Last Connectivity Time with the ELM Server

Do the following procedure to view the Last Connectivity Time with the ELM Server.